July 13, 2018. From West Side Road to Pyramid Lake
At 7:00 Sharlene, the trail angel, was there to pick me up. A thoughtful person, she was interesting to speak with on the drive to the trail.
I skipped a 9 mile paved road walk. I have paved roads at home I can walk if I feel a burning desire. I started at trailhead for Parker Ridge. I’d heard and read that this was a real quad/calf buster. Also there was strong advice to fill up at the trailhead stream because there was no other water source for 16 miles. I drank a full liter, carried 4.
I knew it would be a low mileage day since I started out at 1,800 feet and sought to end up at 7,200 feet ideally. Oh, and it was supposed to top 90.
Parker Ridge was the center of a fire a few years back. The Forest Service and volunteer trail crews had remade the trail. Early on, the steady switchbacks rose through old exposed areas. The bonus was huckleberries to munch on.
After an hour or so, I entered the burn area. The crews had designed a trail that alternated directions and drew attention away from the glum monotony of a burned forest.
There was some interesting vegetation jumping in to the void. That brought insects. More curious to me, I found a pair of woodpeckers. I assumed they must like their insects extremely well done, definitely on the dry side. My quest has been to video baby grouses flying. I got sort of close.
My legs and lungs felt really good. In my experience, in longer hikes there is a whole bunch of physical and mental melodrama for the first few weeks before things settled down. Now, I felt fine.
Once around 6500 feet, the landscape changed to boulders and stunted trees, dotted with some lingering snow patches. I gladly dumped out my warm stale trailhead water and collected snowmelt for filtering.
The sky was a beautiful blue and a gentle evening breeze was starting. I decided to push for 17 miles. I know that doesn’t sound like much, with the elevation gain, five days food, and the hauled water, it seemed good to me.
Pyramid Lake was my destination. I could see its namesake mountain from a distance. It was indeed a three sided pyramid top. Finally, around 7:30, I neared the campsite. Having seen nobody during the day, I thought my mind was playing tricks since I heard the sound of children. Sure enough, the campsite had two families there with four adults, six kids, and two french bulldogs. I was in shock. How could these people and dogs covered such a hike? I mean, french bulldogs?
Turns out the locals take a dirt road to a trailhead 2 miles away. Somebody probably carried the dogs. Anyhow it was quite a contrast to their elaborate meals and my cold- soaked lentils & quinoa; my fastidious food hanging and their just laying food around the campsite. At least they went to bed at a decent hour.
Pyramid Lake was beautiful and I was tired and as I lay in my tent, the wind started to gust every 10 or 15 minutes cooling the air perfectly for sleep.
backpacking over the hill 